Whisper
by xThe nova is overx
Summary: People who are different from what we, as mere humans, perceive as normal are always considered as insane. Difference is not insanity. However, ignorance may be bliss...Full summary inside.
1. Delusions

_-Catch me as I fall. Say you're here and it's all over now. Speaking to the atmosphere, no one's here and I fall into myself. I'm frightened by what I see, but somehow I know that there's much more to come. Immobilized by my fear, and soon to be blinded by tears, I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away.-_

Summary: Humanity is so over rated. We're so convinced that we're superior, so ignorant, that we forget to listen to those who are different than what we think is normal. But one day, their superiority will be their downfall. Those who are different are not always insane. Perhaps they have a better understanding of the things that are supposedly unexplainable...

I would like to announce that this is my first Invader Zim fanfic; but it's not my first fanfic ever. The layout of this chapter was kind of taken from the concept of the music video "Bleed for You" by Hidden in Plain View. Dib is my favorite character on the show, and he's going to be the main character in this fic. I also created my own character, which will be one of the main characters. I hope you don't mind, usually I don't care for fan fictions with made-up characters in them. And if anyone else has used the song that's in this fic, I'm really sorry and I didn't know!

**I don't own Invader Zim. I also don't own Amy Lee from Evanescence and her song "Missing".**

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Delusions

His eyes opened suddenly, suspending the slightly disturbing tranquility his thoughts had composed. Breathing heavily and forcing a yawn back down his throat, he placed his large glasses on the bridge of his nose. The moonlight shone down on him through the small window next to his bed. His hands were shaking and he was in a cold sweat, but somehow the scenes that had projected themselves into his subconscious mind were soothing.

_It was so real..._

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He had sat up in bed and swung his legs off to the side to meet the floor. Although his vision was blurry, he stood up and glanced over his shoulder at the window. The light from the sun poured itself across the room. Carefully, he positioned his glasses in front of his auburn eyes and ran to the bathroom as a nauseating feeling in his stomach traveled to his mouth. After a moment of vomiting, he stood up shakily and made his way to the kitchen._

_Searching for the medicine cabinet, he found an orange transparent bottle full of white pills. Before his presence was known, he gulped them all down. There was the faint sound of people talking in a room across the house, but he disregarded it and rushed out the door. Immediately he started shivering in the cold. Still in a muscle shirt and blue pajama pants, people stared at him awkwardly before trudging along past him. He stood prophetically on the edge of the sidewalk, ignoring the stinging of the melting snow on his cold, bare feet. _

_His black, scythe-like strand of hair was ruffled by the breeze as he walked slowly to the town park. Usually, the city in all its glory still looked appalling, but when winter came around, it was a completely different place. The lights from the distant skyscrapers reflected off the snow and made the cityscape look dazzling. _

_He ignored the beauty and turned his exposed feet in the direction of the park. Now all he had to do was wait. There were only a few people lingering from the multitude of last minute Christmas shoppers sitting on benches and scurrying home. He caught a glimpse of his watch, and acknowledged that it was the afternoon. He stood and walked a few feet forward. _

_Everything around him started to blur, and he lost control of his legs and arms. His head drooped down swiftly and he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. The last thing that he saw was the worried face of a teenage girl leaning above him, obviously around his age, adorned in attire correlative to his usual outfit. He felt the warm touch of her hand on the stinging wound on the back of his head and his tiresome eyes finally got their adjournment._

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He retracted the face of the girl from his memory and thought about her face. It was smooth, and her eyes were a dark, deep blue. Her hair, flowing straight down around her cheeks to frame her face gracefully, was black with streaks of blue here and there. It went past her shoulders and stopped just short of her waist. The trench coat she was wearing, although reflecting his own greatly, was so different than anything he'd ever seen. Pulled tightly around her, it accurated all her curves in just the right places, and had an abundance of buckles, zippers, pockets, and chains.

In all her elegance, Dib couldn't help but wonder how he could retain so many details about her. Her beauty was mind-blowing, to put it bluntly, and everything about her made Dib want to recognize her. The imaginary touch of her warm hands holding his head up as she called for help, the snow falling graciously around her figure as she ran over to him, the deep resound of her boots against the concrete...

He'd liked other girls. Of course they were all popular, malicious, and way out of his league; and he had never had a girlfriend as most girls thought he was gay. But the girl that he had seen in his dream...She seemed different. She seemed...like she cared about him. And that was something that not many people in his life did.

"Did you eat all the cereal!" An annoyed voice came from his door, shattering all his thoughts into a million pieces.

"No, Gaz. It's three in the morning. I didn't eat any of your cereal," The dark girl at his door mumbled something under her breath, and then opened one eye in her signature look of suspicion.

"If you're lying, terrible things will happen to you. Things worse than any senior could think of doing," She turned and descended down the hallway.

_Seniors_, He thought and shuddered. Currently in his freshmen year and without any friends, he was an easy victim for most of the abuses that the seniors had to offer. And this did not go unnoticed by anyone. It was entertaining to the kids in his grade. They would stand around and watch as if they were watching television. Especially his sister. In fact, she would leave her Jr. High early just to watch the perils her brother had to endure. They shoved him into lockers, pushed him into trashcans, and (their favorite) pushed him down flights of stairs which resulted in bruises, cuts, and scrapes. The whole time they would just stand at the top, laughing while a stampede of other upperclassmen went about their daily routes without giving a second thought to stepping on him.

Dib sluggishly got out of his bed and dragged himself over to his dresser. He desperately searched for his query, throwing random objects aside in a pile on the floor. Successfully lifting it up with both hands, he walked back over to his bed and plopped himself down on it, marveling the object with wide, anxious eyes. The moonlight glinted across the silver blade as he laid his arm down on his nightstand with his palm facing up. Swiftly, he sliced open the same scar on his wrist that he renewed every time he was feeling that self-destructive urge. The crimson fluid dripped down to his elbow, but the pain was worth it. It was his way of distracting himself from the reality that his interests and actions had created.

A cheerless smile formed on his face as he had succeeded what he had planned to do. He had been blinded by his throbbing arm just enough to almost forget about his mental anguish. He turned on the radio and increased the volume until it was just bordering the limit of too loud. His dad was usually never home, and his sister Gaz just never paid any heed to it, so he could turn the radio up as loud as he wanted. He grasped the knife back in his hand when he found a song he liked and begin to mutilate his skin more.

With the voice of Amy Lee droning on in the background, he wiped away the blood with a rag. It seemed only seconds until it was replaced by more blood.

_"Please, please forgive me, but I won't be home again..."_

That was another issue: everyone suspecting him of being a homosexual because he listened to Evanescence. Amy Lee had a great voice, and it wasn't like he didn't listen to other stuff. Afewtears slid down his cheek and he realized that it was useless. Everything was just so useless. Sooner or later they were all just going to die anyways. Why not speed up the process and cause less pain in the long run? Shaking every thought from his head, he wrapped the towel around his arm like a tourniquet and lay back in his bed.

_Maybe someday you'll look up,_

_And barely conscious, you'll say to no one,_

_"Isn't something missing?"_

_You won't cry for my absence I know._

_You forgot me long ago._

_Am I that unimportant?_

_Am I so insignificant?_

_Isn't something missing?_

_Isn't someone missing me?_

_Even though I'm the sacrifice,_

_You won't try for me, not now._

_Though I'd die to know you love me,_

_I'm all alone..._

_Isn't someone missing me?_

_Please, please forgive me, _

_But I won't be home again._

_I know what you do to yourself._

_I breathe deep and cry out,_

_"Isn't something missing?_

_Isn't something..."_

_And if I bleed, I'll bleed,_

_Knowing you don't care._

_And if I sleep just to dream of you,_

_I'll wake without you there._

_Isn't something missing?_

_Isn't someone missing me?_

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I know that this is a really short first chapter, but they will get better, trust me. Just please tell me if it was hideously bad. I have a feeling that no one will like this fic, and I don't know why, so hopefully my suspicions are wrong. Well, review and stay tuned for chapter two!_


	2. Killswitch Engage

_-Catch me as I fall. Say you're here and it's all over now. Speaking to the atmosphere, no one's here and I fall into myself. I'm frightened by what I see, but somehow I know that there's much more to come. Immobilized by my fear, and soon to be blinded by tears, I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away.-_

Summary: Humanity is so over rated. We're so convinced that we're "superior," so ignorant, that we forget to listen to those who are different than what we perceive as normal. But one day, our "superiority" will be their downfall. Those who are different are not always insane. Perhaps they have a better understanding of the things that are supposedly unexplainable...

If this chapter seems a little...strange, then it's because I wrote this chapter at like 2:00 at night and I was half asleep. And the chapter title is a band name, I'm just too lazy to try and think of a title myself.

**kohirihiri- Yeah...Well, this is just my opinion, but Dib is the best character on the show! And Gir...Can't forget Gir!**

**Dibsthe1- WOW! THAT'S JUST ABOUT THE LONGEST REVIEW I'VE EVER GOTTEN! I didn't really think it was a good idea to incorporate romance into an IZ fanfic, but I think that Dib really needs to get a girlfriend or a friend or somebody who believes him about Zim. And I've always thought that Gaz would want to watch him get picked on or beat up. I do like Gaz and all, but she is really insensitive.**

**I believe that everything is useless, but not so much in the sense of I'm-so-depressed-I'm-going-to-kill-myself useless. More like, everything-is-pretty-stupid-when-you-think-about-it useless. Yes, I know...If he were a real person, then he probably would be. I just hoped that it wasn't too un-original.**

**As to how this turns out...you'll just have to wait and see! If I told you how it turned out now, then what would be the point of finishing the fic?**

**Invader Maz- Thanks. I just had a feeling that it would suck, because there are so many other stories that feature Dib as a depressed cutter, and it's my first IZ fic...But I guess if four people have already reviewed it then there's gotta be something good about it!**

**Calisto-divine-Blue- Gets all teary-eyed Thank you...sniff I love you...Heh heh, just kidding! But seriously, thanks...**

**I don't own Invader Zim. I guess that I should say that I don't own Killswitch Engage (the band) either.**

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Killswitch Engage

"Apparently your head DOES fit into a locker..." A bitter female monotone stated crossly through the darkness.

"Yeah...you owe me twenty bucks!" Another voice, this one a deeper and egotistical male's, accused.

"I don't owe you anything."

Silence...Then the loud crunch of something heavy smashing up against metal. The door was opened and light poured onto him, making him squint. He saw the owner of the female voice standing in the hallway in front of a large crowd of high schoolers. The girl with purple hair and fishnet stockings stepped back slightly, allowing the teen that was trapped in the locker to fall face forward onto the cold tile. Her brother stood up and shook himself off, then walked over to his tormentor. Above him in the neat row of lockers was a huge dent. With red hair and a face full of freckles and acne, the senior was hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth on the floor.

Dib stood defiantly over him, a smile edging its way slowly onto his lips. The late bell rang throughout the silent halls notifying the students that they were late. He saw his opportunity to escape and leaped out of the way of the chaotic crowd, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a wall. Panting, he waited outside his homeroom class for a moment, then stood up straight, brushed his sleeves off, and stealthily made his way through the doorway.

A tall woman with gray hair and pale skin was standing up in front of the chalkboard, her arched back facing the class. His movement caused his trench coat to swish and attract much unwanted attention from his classmates. Upon realizing who it was, many of them went back into the drooling stupor that the lecture had put them in. Others, for lack of something better to do, watched him with a slight interest. He was slowly making his way to his seat when the old teacher suddenly appeared looming over him, like a predator about to pounce on its prey. Dib, still unaware that his presence was apparent, was just about to lower himself down into his desk, when-

"DIB!" She growled loudly, causing Dib to fall to the ground with a thud. "You're late! That's the third time this week, and it's only Tuesday!"

"I know Ms. Bitters, but this senior locked me in-"

"Ha ha ha! Again, puny Earth boy!" Zim screeched from his desk with his hands behind his head and his feet reclining on the desktop in a very relaxed manner.

"Hey, why don't you just shut up Zim, ok! _Normal_ freshmen get bullied!" He pointed an incriminating finger at the Irken in disguise.

"Unless they have friends," Zita commented, stimulating a few random giggles throughout the room.

"Or unless you're an alien invader bent on world conquest and you protect yourself from upperclassmen with some kind of extra-terrestrial defense device...thingy!" Dib yelled, cantering over to him.

"Nonsense, pitiful Dib-human...I practice the Earth defense...keratay. Just like any other normal self-defending, worm baby!" Zim responded, pasting a completely fake innocent smile on his face.

"Whatever. It's pronounced 'kah-rah-tee,' _Zim_," He leaned towards him and whispered quickly, "I hate you."

"Alright Dib! That's enough! Would you please take your seat so that I can pretend to teach without any disruptions?" Ms. Bitters broke into the argument.

Dib whispered something quietly to himself and started smirking, staring intensely at Zim.

"What was that?" Zim inquired, narrowing his eyes.

"It was nothing that you Irkens would understand, but here on Earth I guess you would consider it a cuss word."

"What is this word that you speak of?" Zim stood up on his desk and outstretched his hands to the ceiling.

He then jumped down and pulled Dib towards him by his collar. "Tell Zim now! Tell me!"

"Don't touch me, you jerk!" Dib yelled, shoving him off of him.

"How dare you push your future ruler!" Zim tackled Dib and before anyone could do anything they were grappling around on the floor.

Dib rolled Zim around and pinned him to the floor, but ended up getting a fist to his eye in the process. Zim stood defiantly over him and turned to sit down when something caught his foot and he fell face down onto the floor, his teeth clanking together painfully.

"Why you little-" Zim managed to get out before both of them were wrestling across the classroom floor again.

If a cloud of dust had formed around them, it wouldn't have made any difference as to how visible the fight was. Both participants were moving so swiftly that no one knew who the victor was. And no one would find out, because after enjoying the blood-thirsty battle in all its glory, Ms. Bitters snatched both boys up by the collars and held them at an arm's distance.

"You sit down!" She flung Zim towards his desk, which he hit with a sickening crack. "And you! Detention for a month!"

"Me! But he started it!" Dib yelled, struggling for a gasp of breath.

"Would you like me to send you to the underground classroom instead?" She threatened, her finger hovering menacingly over a big red button on her desk.

"Detention's good!" He exclaimed briefly.

"Ummm...Is this a bad time?" An unknown voice called uncertainly from next to them.

"Oh...uh, well considering that I apparently just got another student, then yes. Yes, it is. You may sit in that desk," Ms. Bitters pointed to an unoccupied desk next to Dib's. Why it was unoccupied, well, the students didn't like to speak of it, but some of them say that there simply was never anyone there.

Dib stared at the shy girl as if he were in a trance. Her long, black hair flowed down her back until it reached her waist, with streaks of a navy blue that matched her eyes perfectly going through it. Her slender body was adorned with a black trench coat that swayed down to her shins, almost brushing the floor as she pulled it closed. It was bedecked with millions of buckles, zippers, pockets, chains, and just about anything else along the lines of those previously mentioned. Her dark eyeliner caused her brilliant blue eyes to stand out vibrantly, though most people called this kind of make-up ugly. Everything about her was so...elegant, but not to the point where she looked too extravagant.

He continued to eye her, a nagging sense of recognition in the depths of his brain. Ms. Bitters turned her back to them once again, and the girl took the seat next to Dib.

"Um, excuse me," Dib tapped her on the arm and she looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Do I, uh...know you?"

Her blank expression turned to one of annoyance and disappointment. "Oh, very original pick-up line. I haven't heard that one before." She pulled a magazine out of her book bag.

"I know how that sounded but I really feel like I know you!" He glanced at the cover of the magazine she was reading.

Dib almost repeated what he had said for she remained motionless for a moment. "Are you really desperate enough to use pick-up lines on..._me_?" She said the word 'me' with such dissatisfaction that her nose wrinkled up in disgust.

"I'm not trying to hit on you! Anyone who would be attracted to you must have great taste, but I just...Is that a paranormal magazine?" He stared wide-eyed at her.

"N-no, it's...not, it's just a..."

"Hey, I know that symbol! That's the Swollen Eyeball Net Monthly Magazine!" He intensified his gaze. "Are you an agent?"

"Um..." She glanced around nervously.

"Agent Mothman," He held out his hand. "But my real name's Dib."

She smiled. "I'm Ami. Or Agent...eh, Killswitch. Don't ask." She gave him her hand.

Deep blue met dark brown as their gaze brought them closer to each other with each passing second. Ami, perhaps the more attentive out of the two, broke the look and pulled back, sinking down in her seat. Dib pulled back also, but didn't take his eyes off of her.

From across the room, the green alien was watching the whole scene unfold with a curiosity that only someone oblivious to what was happening would have. This girl...Ami, as she had called herself, looked like she was the human equivalent to the Irken Tak. They were both females, and it seemed that the Earth girl was quite attractive (by Earth standards of course). Both more graceful than their male counterparts, not that Zim would ever admit that. But the Dib-human was staring at the girl like Zim had stared at Tak the first time he'd seen her on Devastis, in the training facility.

His mouth almost forming a smile, his eyes as if they were glued to her. There was some human emotion that described this attraction, something that would explain the longing look that the Dib-worm displayed. Maybe the Earth boy had just found his mate. That was the only conclusion Zim could come too, disregarding the emotion portion of his thoughts.

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"So, do you wanna come over today? I could show you all the proof that I've gotten of aliens! And we could try and break into Zim's base! And you could help me! I'm not alone!" Dib enthusiastically explained, motioning his hands with his words.

"Um, that sounds fun, but I have to get home. My...father doesn't want me to be, uh...out," Ami stated, pulling her book bag closer to her and slamming her locker door.

Dib's expression questioned her, but he agreed with her nonetheless. "Alright. Then I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Yeah..." Her downcast eyes never looked up at him. He reached up to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she flinched when she saw his hand move upward.

"Are you ok?" He asked, concern written all over his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Do you want me to walk you home?"

She pondered the idea for a moment. "If you want to."

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As they walked down the sidewalk, a pair of eyes watched them from a nearby bush.

"Well, this is my house." She turned to Dib. "Thanks for walking me home. You're the first person that I've met that actually believes in paranormal stuff like I do."

"You are too. You don't know how many times I've been called-"

"Crazy? Yes, I probably do." She cut him off.

A twig snapped somewhere behind them and Dib turned quickly, in an attempt to protect Ami. Another stick could be heard being stepped on followed by a string of curses and Dib felt less threatened.

"ZIM!" He narrowed his eyes as the green boy tumbled out of the bushes five feet away from them, followed by a little green dog.

After sending a disgusted look at his dog, the kid turned to the two adolescents. "Don't think that I don't know what's going on, _Dib_. If you think that just because you found a mate means that you're better than me, then you're wrong! The amazing ZIM does not need such conveniences! ZIM needs no one!"

"Uh, are you finished?" Zim nodded. "First of all, she's not my mate. She's my friend," Dib smiled inwardly at that. "And second, you have no clue what's going on."

Zim looked around inattentively, and then focused his sight on the black-haired boy in front of him. "Pitiful, pitiful Earth larva. Just wait. I'm coming up with a new evil plan to enslave the Earth. One that you couldn't stop even if you didn't want to!"

"And I'm making the waffles!" The little green dog added from beside him.

"GIR! Do not speak of the waffles!" Zim yelled, making the little creature start sniffling. "There's really no waffles in our plan. Our plan has no such things..."

"Whatever Zim. I'd better go. See you at school tomorrow Ami!" Dib called, running down the sidewalk past Zim and kicking him in the shin in the process.

"So does that mean there's no waffles?" Gir asked in a depressed voice that could consume anyone into sadness themselves as tears began to well up in his eyes.

Zim almost looked sympathetic. "Yes, Gir. The waffles...Oh, such delicious waffles there will be!"

"YAY!" The little animal put its arms in the air and the tears instantly disappeared. "I'm gonna get the syrup!"

It ran off with its arms still in the air, followed by a less-amused Zim.

Ami stared in disbelief. Zim was definitely an alien; that much she could determine. And Gir, as she was assuming its name was, was definitely of some alien origin. But Dib was so unlike anyone she had ever met, which automatically signified to her that there was something special about him. And she had felt his eyes on her during class. Recalling the words he had said...what were they, "Anyone who would be attracted to you must have great taste." What did he even mean by that?

She tugged her hair down in her face a bit and searched for the courage to enter the house. Hopefully her father had forgotten about her (like he often did) and went off to work at his stupid office. Or where ever he worked; she had no clue because he was hardly around at all. She sighed and opened the door to face another empty and broken home. They had lived in the same house for quite a few years, but she had transferred to various school districts because everyone at all her other schools had accused her of being insane. And, as if the contradictions against her hadn't made her almost insane, she had lost it and almost killed one of her fellow classmates. Instead of sending her to a juvenile detention center, her father; having the high-ranking social status that he does; had persuaded the police out of it and they forced her to transfer schools.

This boy that she had met, Dib, spoke as if he thought his claims were immune to contradiction. Or maybe he just didn't care, Hell, she didn't know. But there was a spark in his eyes, that if lit up she assumed could be very effective.

Since finding anything to eat at her house would be a miracle, she starved unless her father actually remembered to leave her lunch money. And it got really lonely without anyone to talk to besides herself, so she often thought out loud.

She sat down on the couch in the darkened living room; the blinds shut and the lights off; and closed her eyes. It wasn't long before sleep devoured her, taking her through the same nightmare that she had to relive over and over every night.

It wasn't some devastating memory that ate at her heart every second of her sleep, but rather just a simple nightmare that was never understandable. Only until now did it start to make a sliver of sense.

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She envisioned a tall boy laying her on the ground, then standing above her, his eyes wishing that she would stand with him. She felt an immense pain in her side, as if someone had sliced her open with a knife. She reached down to the epicenter of the pain and felt the warm blood dripping quickly and fluidly to the ground._

_The boy looked around anxiously, like he didn't know what to do. "Please, please don't leave, Ami," The boy whispered with cold tears streaming down his face and mixing with the blood that was everywhere. He was now kneeling next to her. "Now that I know what I'm without, you can't just leave me. I can't live without you now."_

_She took his hand and kissed it slightly, her orbs closing themselves until she could barely see anymore. The silhouette of the boy stood above her, glaring at the whole world. No, it was more than a glare. There wasn't a word that could justify the hatred that was clear in his emotional eyes even though her eyes were half closed. And he wasn't specifically glaring at the world._

_He looked back down at her with an expression totally opposite of the one before and said softly, "I love you Ami." Then gazing swiftly back up to the crimson sky, he gave it another look of deathly hatred._

_"I love you too," She said as her eyes closed completely. The darkness surrounded her and she felt as if she was floating in water, and the chillness of the air around her grew still. _

_The last words she heard before she woke up, which always rang throughout her head, were, "You killed her! You killed her Zim, you killed her!"_

_Suddenly she felt an enormous weight being lifted off of her shoulders, crashing down around her like glass shattering. She looked back upon the boy, her would-be savior if not for Zim. His hair in the most unusual shape, she recognized his face, and a rush of adrenaline would've overpowered her body...if she was still in it._

_At that moment, she realized that the boy that had haunted her dreams for about a year now, was the boy that she had just met. The boy in her nightmare was Dib._

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I hope everyone liked this chapter; it was really hard to write because I had to make Ami fit into the story without her seeming too out-of-place. And I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but I've just had so much homework. STUPID HOMEWORK! We've had five pages every night so far this week, but some how I find the time to write a new chapter. That's how much I love you guys! Ah, well, read and review.


	3. Away From Me

_-Catch me as I fall. Say you're here and it's all over now. Speaking to the atmosphere, no one's here and I fall into myself. I'm frightened by what I see, but somehow I know that there's much more to come. Immobilized by my fear, and soon to be blinded by tears, I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away.-_

Summary: Humanity is so over rated. So convinced that they're superior, so ignorant, that they forget to listen to those who are different than what they perceive as normal. But one day, their "superiority" will be their downfall. Those who are different are not always insane.

Hello. This chapter is going to be kind of angsty at the beginning, but I tried to make her seem less like she was identical to Dib. Even though I already had intentions to write it like this, I strived to make sure that she didn't turn out like a Mary-Sue. Now I'm praying that you guys don't just come over to my house, after reading this chapter, as an angry mob and stone me to death. Yep, that's right, I said stone. But aside from that, please tell me if she's still kind of turning out like a "Little-Miss-Perfect."

**Dibsthe1- See, what was happening was, she came over to the High Skool to watch her brother get picked on as usual, and realized this senior was trying to stuff him into a locker. So she told him that he wouldn't fit and they starting arguing, then BOOM! We're where we are at the beginning of chapter 2. I was gonna make that the beginning, but I decided not to. Ok, I'll try my best to explain: Um...she _would _be cool if she didn't make Dib's life a living Hell. **

**Yeah, I realized that I had better make them more different or I'd be getting bad reviews. I hope that I succeeded in both making them different and not making her a Mary-Sue. The waffles part just came to me, very much like the "people who are different are not always insane," and what-not. I had a little difficulty trying to explain what Ami thought of the whole scene, but I guess it played out right in the end. I agree, friends should always help friends with problems.**

**The Maine Coon Cat- She seems a little less perfect not, doesn't she? I'm probably just being paranoid about it, but...paranoid people rock! Just look at Dib! My story went on your favorite's list? My story...on...s-someone's f-f-favorite's list? faints and gets rushed to the hospital Thanks! I'm so happy now...all the time...IT'S GREAT!**

**Calisto-divine-blue- Ok, that's good. I'm probably gonna get a warning of hostility after this chapter though. Dib is just so...OOC, and after you said that I did a good job getting them IC too. Oh well, that's for you (the reader) to decide and for me (the writer) to find out, isn't it?**

**So here's the disclaimer. I don't own Invader Zim. I don't own Evanescence. I don't own Evanescence's song _Away From Me._ Well, I do in my sad, little fantasy world, but in reality, all I have to my name (that's worth saying here) is my CD collection.**

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Away From Me

_I hold my breath as this life starts to take its toll,_

_I hide behind a smile as this perfect plan unfolds._

She sighed; a sad, hollow sound that was yanked from the bottom, darkest crevice in her heart. She _hated_ herself, she just _loathed_ herself...Ami couldn't remember how long she had been sitting there, or how long her tears had been rolling softly down her cheeks. But the glaring red numbers on her alarm clock said that the hour was fifteen past midnight. Her step-mother had no right to say or do that to her. She stood up and walked across the room to look into her reflection in her mirror. The eyeliner under her eyes was running hideously, the skin around her eyes was puffy and red yet sunken in(like that of a skeleton), and, now wearing just a purple shirt and her black pajama pants, her ribs could be seen if she pulled her shirt tight enough around her. She put her fingers to the glass; barely touching the cold, hard surface with her fingertips.

A clanking noise came from her window, causing her to jump and wear an expression that made her look more fatigued. Slowly, she walked across her room to the moonlit pane of glass. Stars specked the sky on the other side of the window as she stared ahead, not sure of what to think. Another clank and Ami found herself moving quicker to see what the interruption was.

_But oh, God, I feel like I've been lied to,_

_Lost all faith in all the things I have achieved._

"Hey!" A very familiar voice called from in the bushes below. "Hey, it's me!"

A tight feeling appeared in her chest as she pushed open the lock and lifted the pane up. The boy calling her name reached inside his coat and took out an elaborant device. He began to scale the side of her house with it, and soon he was in front of her, trying to climb through.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him forward, trying to help him in. She failed, and he flipped over once before falling flat on his face on her floor.

"Hi," He muttered, rubbing his jaw.

"Um...Are you alright?" She cautiously grabbed his arm again to help him up and onto her bed. Then she stood in front of him and observed him, wondering what in God's name had possessed him to come to her at a quarter after midnight.

_And I've woken up now to find myself,_

_In the shadows of all I have created._

He gazed at her for the first actual time that night and he stopped rubbing his sore head.

"I should be the one asking you that. I can see your ribs! And your eyes look sunken in, too," He pasted on a worried expression. She just glanced at the floor and held her arm in her hand. "I know we haven't known each other long, but I think that we're close enough to be best friends. Now, will you please tell me what's wrong?"

She whispered something intelligible.

"Huh?"

"I said it's none of your business. Why should you even care? No one else does..." She immediately slapped her hand over her mouth, realizing that she had bled out too much information.

"I DO care...I told you, I felt like I knew you."

"I still don't understand. We just met."

_I'm longing to be lost in you,_

_Away from this place I have made._

"Well, I had this dream where I took a whole bottle of some sort of pills, and then I ran through the park. It was winter, because I could remember the raw feeling of my bare feet in the snow." A questionable look came from Ami as she sat down next to him and he continued talking. "Then I fainted, and the last thing I remember was seeing a beautiful girl with black hair and a long, swaying trench coat running towards me with a caring look that no one had ever given me before. That girl was identical to you."

She was silent for a moment, for she was deep in thought. "How can you think I'm beautiful if you don't even know what my personality is like?"

The question was barely audible, but Dib could make out exactly what she said.

"Because you are beautiful," He gazed into her eyes and she almost smiled back. "And I'm sure you're a great person."

"You've got to be kidding..."

"No."

"If you only knew."

Dib stared at her. "You know, I was never one to believe in love at first sight, but..." Her eyes perked up at the last few words and she turned to stare back at him. "I think that I love you."

_Won't you take me away from me?_

The only sound that was heard throughout the room was a stereo somewhere in the distance. Ami studied Dib for several minutes, trying to find a sliver of a thought inside her mind. Nothing could explain how the tight feeling in her chest had gotten even tighter when he moved closer to her.

They decreased the negative space between each other and met in the center, locking their lips in the most pleasant kiss that either had experienced. Or rather, the first kiss either had experienced. The tingling that his lip's gave her's made her want to put her arms around him, and she did. It wasn't all that long, like the stereotypical kisses in romance novels. Dib's cheeks turned a deep red when they pulled apart to look at each other.

On an impulse, she reached up to touch his cheek. He put his hand on her's.

"You're so cold," He stated. "Where's your coat?"

"My...I lost it..." She hated to lie, especially to this boy whom had just kissed her.

He pulled his arms out of the sleeves of his own coat and placed it around her shoulders. "Here. Hold onto it for a while, ok?" He said gently.

He stood and walked over to the window, but Ami stopped him.

"Dib?" He turned with a calm look on his face.

"Does this mean that we're...more than friends?" The words that came out were foreign to her, as if she was speaking in a different language.

_Crawling through this world as disease flows through my veins._

_I look into myself, but my own heart has been changed._

"That depends on what you want," He said smoothly. "I've never had a girlfriend before though, so if you want someone with more...experience...then I guess we don't have to be but...I would like it if we were...an item. It's completely up to you though."

His head was tilted downward but his eyes were looking straight forward and he was rubbing his neck to the point where it was beginning to become red.

"You won't like me anymore when you get to know me better."

"Oh, don't say that; what if I do?" He smiled and made his way back over to her.

"You won't. Believe me..." She closed her eyes as tears sprung to them again.

It was then that something warm wrapped around her waist, and she opened her eyes to find that Dib was hugging her. He pulled her up to her feet and stood there, unmoving. She placed her arms hesitantly around his neck and his trench coat fell off of her shoulders to the floor.

Outside, snow began falling lightly to the ground, creating an amazing view of the city in the distance.

"I better go," Dib said, picking up his trench coat and placing it back on her shoulders. "Get some sleep."

With those last words he was gone, as quickly as he was there, and as quickly as they had kissed. She pulled her arms through the sleeves and sat on her bed, hugging his baggy trench coat to her to absorb the warmth it had. She walked over to the open window, the source of a chilling breeze, and closed it while letting a smile slip into the darkness of the night.

She sat back down on her bed in the same position as before, this time in a more content light. That didn't last for long though, as footsteps were pounding their way up the stairs at that very moment.

_I can't go on like this._

_I loathe all I've become._

* * *

Zim was sitting in part of the underground portion of his base, deeply in thought about today's events.

_I remember the last time we had a new girl...Tak..._ Suddenly he shook his head and an alarmed expression swept across his face.

"TAK!" He yelled, making Gir jump from behind him and start running in circle. "This new girl could be Irken, just like Tak was! Or worse...it could be Tak in a different disguise!"

"YAY!" Gir shouted for no real reason other than to entertain himself.

"Do you know what this means Gir?"

"Yes! Wait...no! Wait! ...maybe!" The little robot sat down on the floor and stared at his master with a look of utmost confusion and panic.

Zim watched Gir's usual expression with his usual smug, superior one. "I can see that my reasoning is too complex for your little brain, GIR, so I will explain it slowly."

Gir squinted his eyes in anticipation. "C'mon! I-I gotta know! I gotta know...now!" He exclaimed.

"There was a new girl at skool today..._Ami_...and I think that she may be...Irken!" Zim thrust his arms up into the air and yelled.

"Oh no!" Gir cried, frantically searching under Zim's chair and the computer's keyboard.

"Exactly. She could be after our mission! She could be Tak in a different disguise!" Zim rubbed his chin in thought. "We need to find out if she is trying to steal our mission," He dropped his voice down to almost a whisper. "Or destroy her before she gets the chance."

"Yay!" Gir held up a tiny rubber pig in his master's face.

"Yes, yes, it's a wonderful plan," The would-be invader continued to ponder all the possibilities as Gir ran into the teleporter and pressed the button for the living room.

* * *

Dib flung open his door and ran up to his room, trying to find warmth in his blanket. It had been a freezing walk home without his warm trench coat, but he was still glad that he had given it to Ami. He smiled and pulled his blanket closer around his face. Sleep was slowly making its way into his conscious mind when it was interrupted by the slam of his door.

"Dib! Where were you?" Gaz yelled from his doorway.

"Why do you wanna know?" He questioned suspiciously.

"Because if dad finds out that you were out this late, I'm the one that's in trouble."

"I was at Zim's house."

"Ok, then never mind." The door slammed shut, and he closed his eyes. Searching for sleep, but ending fruitlessly. He stared at the snow that was gathering on the tree outside his window. Someone actually liked him, accepted him for who he was...

Finally sleep found him, and threw him into the world of his nightmares once more. He slept throughout the night fitfully, waking up at certain points in the dream, but getting pulled back in. An apocalyptic nightmare in his vision. But the really frightening thing about it was...It was real.

_Lost in a dying world I reach for something more._

_I have grown so weary of this lie I live._

_

* * *

Ok, now here comes the stoning! Just kidding! At this last part, where it says that the frightening part about it was that it was real, that means that it's sort of like a vision, that it's **going** to become real. Just wanted to clear any questions up. Read and review, and as always, loves you guys!_


	4. Everything Burns

_-Catch me as I fall. Say you're here and it's all over now. Speaking to the atmosphere, no one's here and I fall into myself. I'm frightened by what I see, but somehow I know that there's much more to come. Immobilized by my fear, and soon to be blinded by tears, I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away.-_

Summary: Humanity is so over rated. So convinced that they're superior, so ignorant, that they forget to listen to those who are different than what they perceive as normal. But one day, their "superiority" will be their downfall. Those who are different are not always insane.

_**I know that I just updated this not too long ago, but I really love writing this. I really want to get farther into the story because I feel like I write best when I'm writing about the characters under stressful situations…Maybe I should update my Jimmy Neutron fanfic, but…it can wait I guess. **_

**Dibsthe1- Yeah, well I guess you could call it help. More like fight alongside of him, though. Yes, she is still a Swollen Eyeball agent. Why wouldn't she be? Hmmm…I never really thought about that…Zim isn't going to be the only threat in the story, just watch-err…read.**

**The Maine Coon Cat- You'll find out in this chapter, although I don't write out all of it. The just of it: Her step-mother yelled at her because her step-mother mistreats her all the time, and the rest in the chapter! **

**Here's the clincher…I mean, disclaimer…I've got Chevelle stuck in my head right now, sorry. I don't own Invader Zim. Only the almighty Jhonen Vasquez and the less mighty than Jhonen but still mightier than me Nickelodeon do. Oh how I wish I was mightier than Nickelodeon…but don't get me started. I also do not own Ben Moody, Anastacia, or their song _Everything Burns_.**

* * *

_**Everything Burns**_

_She sits in her corner,_

_Singing herself to sleep._

The snow, falling slowly and softly to the ground, depicted an almost perfect winter season. Being that the present time was unsuitable, no one roamed the streets or sidewalks making the night peaceful and serene. Every few minutes a car would drive by with the headlights shining brightly against the opposite side of the room. Though those drive-bys were few and far between, the light was taken graciously in by the blue, scared eyes of the girl underneath the sheets of the bed.

A shadow passed by the crack at the bottom of the door to her bedroom and stopped in the center. An angry fist pounded on the door, and the girl sat bolt upright. Legs shaking as she pulled the covers off of her, she removed the garment that was given to her(which she was planning on wearing to sleep because it kept her very warm) and stuffed it in between the two mattresses that sat on the bed-frame. The banging came from the door again, this time harder and more assertive. Swiftly shuffling over to the door so as not to make her footsteps known, she fell to the floor and pressed her cheek to the floor so she could get a decent view of the hallway on the other side of the door.

A pair of pink, fluffy slippers waited on the other side, left foot tapping away impatiently. She lifted herself back up and placed her hand slowly on the doorknob, letting it hover there until another threatening pound on the door forced her to turn it. A middle-aged woman in a bathrobe that matched her slippers stood with her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes at the fifteen year old Goth who stood before her. The girl, who particularly despised the color pink and anything that was fluffy while being pink, mirrored the glare back at the woman.

_Wrapped in all of the promises,_

_That no one seems to keep._

The woman pushed her way past the girl with her shoulder and settled in the middle of the room. She held a black bundle of cloth with various metal pieces clanking together with the slightest of her movement. She looked suspiciously around the dark room for a moment, and then turned to face the girl. Standing in the doorway with the light from the hallway streaming past her, the girl's face was shadowed to a point where her expression could not be read unless you examined her face from up close. The woman began to tap her foot again, a habit of hers that she did when she was angry.

The Gothic girl studied the wrinkly woman, whose face always seemed twisted in that permanent glare when she was alone with her. Her fluorescent red lipstick and her bright blue eye shadow made her face look like it was made of wax. Her bosom was wide, as was her hips, and she swayed them when she walked as if it made her look attractive. She was a little on the stumpy side, and had always reminded the girl of those ladies in documentaries on the Travel Channel who lived in Hollywood and got botox injections to make them look younger.

"Ami!" The woman yelled, shaking Ami from her thoughts. Noticing her dazed disposition, the woman smiled and used it to her advantage. "Sorry, but you seemed a bit distracted. Anyways, I was just coming to see that you got to bed."

Ami wrinkled her nose up in disgust at the woman's sickeningly sugar-coated voice, and then she remembered that she was right in front of her. She sighed out of relief as she realized that the darkness cast on her face restricted the woman from seeing her.

"So how was your first day at school?" The woman asked, trying to sound motherly.

_She no longer cries to herself,_

_No tears left to wash away._

"It was okay, Britney," She muttered.

"Oh, why can't you just call me mom? Or at least Brit…" Ami twinged at the mere thought of calling that…thing by a nickname, let alone her mother. "Did you make any friends at school?"

She hated to let this woman into her personal life, however slightly nonexistent it was, but it seemed that she had no choice. "Yes. One."

"Well, that's good. What's her name?"

"His. And why should I tell you?" She hadn't meant to put the hatred in her question, even though in her mind she had.

"I just wanted try to have a civilized conversation with you…my daughter," Britney knew that Ami hated it when she called her daughter instead of her name. "So what is _his_ name?"

She sighed again. "Dib."

"Hmmm, what an odd name."

"It's not odd! I happen to like it." She had no idea where this sudden outburst had come from, but she felt the need to stand up for the boy.

Her step-mother remained silent for a few seconds. "Do you like this boy?"

_Just diaries of empty pages,_

_Feelings gone astray._

"Maybe. He walked me home, but my business is none of your business," A scowl came across her features, and their conversation had suddenly gone from slightly friendly terms to terms of foes.

The woman's eyebrows scrunched together as she asked the next question. "Were you asleep before I knocked on your door?"

"…Yes."

"That's funny, because I thought I heard voices up here. Guess my hearing is not what it used to be." She placed the bundle in her hand on Ami's bed, locking her eyes to Ami's. "Here's your trench coat. I had to wash it because it smelled of that awful perfume that that _woman_ used to wear."

'That woman' that she was referring to was Ami's biological mother, and Britney had spoken of her as if her hatred was deeper than Ami's hatred for herself.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother that way!" Although Ami had meant to exclaim it, she suppressed her voice so that it came out just a little above a whisper.

"Sounds like someone has a soft spot!" Her step-mother smiled in an evil way and walked up to her hesitantly.

"You just need to shut up. You never knew my mother!"

_But she will sing._

"Oh, I knew your mother. An annoying little bitch, she was, but that's beside the point. Haven't you ever wondered how she died?"

Ami didn't move any part of her body and continued to shoot daggers at the woman with her eyes.

"I wouldn't expect you to know how, right?" Not waiting an answer, she looked away from the curious girl. "She died from an experiment performed on her by a scientist. Professor Membrane, I think his name was."

All she got in return was silence.

"You know, _I_ wouldn't trust that _Dib_ boy."

"…Get out. Now," In one motion she pushed the chubby lady out of her room and slammed the door behind her, leaning up against it to brace the door in case she tried to get back in.

Leaning her cheek against the cold wood of the door, her breathing slowed down a bit, and the wave of tension she was harboring left somewhat. Then the Ami's vision was blurred as she remembered her mother's funeral.

_

* * *

__She was a little girl, no older than five, and she recalled standing next to her father as she grasped his hand. They walked up to the casket silently, and there her father was threateningly talking to a man in a long, white lab coat. The man had two kids with him, a girl whom was being held in his arms and a little boy with black hair who was standing a few feet away from him, staring at something on the ground. Her father had told her go play with him because he was around her age. _

_She pouted and didn't listen to him. What she wanted to do was find out why her mother was suddenly not with them anymore._

"_Ami, don't do this to me. Not now; just do as I say!" Her father kneeled down and looked into her eyes._

"_Not until I know what happened to mommy!" She crossed her arms across her chest and turned her head up in a snooty, persistent way._

"_I'll talk to you about it later. Now go!" Taking the threatening tone in his voice seriously, she uncrossed her arms and turned away as her father stood back up to the man in white._

_She knew that he was only trying to get rid of her so that he could tell the man off. She had walked over to the little boy in a cautious fashion, and almost went back over to her father when she saw that the boy was crying. But it was too late, he had already seen her._

_Everything burns, _

_Everyone screams._

"_Hi…" He said in a monotone._

"_Um…hi," She replied unstably._

"_That's my mom's head stone," He stated blandly, pointing to the stone on the ground that he was examining. _

"_Oh."_

"_I'm really sorry about you mom. You were probably really close…" _

_He was the first person who had ever spoken to her like she was an equal, of course, they were equal it seemed at the time, but that's not the point. Mentally, Ami was about eight years old, and this kid sounded like he was too._

"_We were…" Fresh tears sprang to her eyes and the boy turned to her sympathetically, his black hair swaying in the breeze._

_Out of nowhere he embraced her, tears sliding down his cheeks as well. She hugged him back and they just stood there, sobbing and hugging as if it were the ends of their short, five year old lives._

_

* * *

_

_Burning their lies,_

_Burning my dreams._

She was now sitting in the farthest corner of her room, no longer crying. Her head rested on her arms, which were crossed over her knees. Come to think of it, that boy in her memory seemed really familiar. She rose to her feet, too tired to care anymore. Her trench coat lay on her bed where Britney had left it, and Ami placed it on the chair by her desk. Then, after assuring the placement of Dib's trench coat, she slipped herself under her black bed sheets. All the happiness of finally finding a friend, someone that understood her, drained from her eyes in the form of one solitary tear as she laid her head on the pillow and fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

_She was lying on the ground, staring up at the crimson sky. Dib towered over her, staring at her with an amplified sadness. The immense pain that she felt in her side caused her to gasp for air. She reached down to feel the warm blood dripping down. Dib looked as if he had no idea what to do._

"_Please, please don't leave Ami," He said, kneeling down as tears streamed down his face. "Now that I know what I'm without, you can't just leave me. I don't think that I could live without you."_

_He gripped her hand gently with his and she kissed it lightly. Her eyelids were slowly drooping down until all she could see were silhouettes of the world before her. He stood back up and glared at the world, a glare so full of hatred that she couldn't think of a word to describe it. It was very clear how emotional his deep, brown eyes were even though her eyes were halfway closed. _

_He looked down at her, his expression changing drastically to a softer, caring one. "I love you, Ami."_

"_I love you too," He almost smiled, and would've if it wasn't such a broken moment._

_All of this faith,_

_And all of this pain,_

_He glared at the sky again, and then the darkness completely closed in on her vision. It surrounded her and she felt as if she were floating in water. The chillness of the air around her grew still. The next words she heard were, "You killed her! You killed her, Zim, you killed her!"_

_Usually that would've been the last thing that she heard, but another voice chilled her thoughts._

"_Stupid human; letting your emotions get the best of you. Guess what Dib," The arrogant voice called. "I win."_

_Burning all down,_

_Cause my anger reigns._

_Walking through life unnoticed,_

_Knowing that no one cares._

_To consume and then masquerade,_

_No one sees her there._

_And she still sings._

_Everything burns,_

_Everyone screams._

_Burning their lies,_

_Burning my dreams._

_All of this faith,_

_And all of this pain,_

_Burning all down,_

_Cause my anger reigns._

_Everything burns._

_Watching it all fade away,_

_Everyone screams._

_Everyone screams,_

_Watching it all fade away._

_Everything burns,_

_Everyone screams._

_Burning their lies,_

_Burning my dreams._

_All of this faith,_

_And all of this pain,_

_Burning all down,_

_Cause my anger reigns._

_

* * *

_

_I hope everyone liked this one, it only took me two and a half hours to write it. And that was considering that I stopped to eat and to talk on the phone. Anyways, I put that flashback in there to make it seem like they really **did **know each other before they met in this story. Hope it doesn't make the story too dramatic. She had the same dream again, I just made it a little bit more detailed._


End file.
